Goodman appeals ethics panel ruling

Monday, Jan. 31, 2005 | 8:51 a.m.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has formally filed his appeal of the state Ethics Commission's May ruling that he violated ethics laws by using his elected position to help his son's business.

Goodman's two-page petition filed in Clark County District Court last week listed the general grounds for the appeal, which state that the ruling was clearly wrong or unlawful, but did not state an argument to back up his appeal.

Ethics Commission Executive Director Stacy Jennings said those more specific arguments, and the commission's response, will come in later filings. She said it could be four to six months before oral arguments are scheduled.

In his petition, Goodman, who continues to be his own lawyer in this matter, asks the court to overturn the commission's ruling, plus award him attorney's fees.

Earlier this month Goodman said his appeal would be based on a 1995 commission opinion in former City Councilman Frank Hawkins' case. That opinion determined, in part, that Hawkins violated ethics laws by inviting people who had business before the council to a private golf tournament from which he would profit.

Goodman said that decision is relevant to his case because he had no power over those who attended a cocktail party he hosted in Washington, D.C., last year for iPolitix. The company was partly owned by his son Ross Goodman and City Councilman Michael Mack. The mayor was in Washington at the time attending a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting.

The commission ruled that Goodman secured a benefit for his son that would not have been available had he not been the mayor's son. The commission did not find the violation was willful.

Jennings said she and the commission members considered the Hawkins opinion, but she said that opinion does not apply to Goodman's case.